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distinctive feature

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR distinctive feature ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Linguistics.

a feature of the sound system of a language that serves as the crucial distinguishing mark between two phonemes, as the distinctive feature of voicing, which distinguishes b from p in English, or nasality, which distinguishes m from b and p.

any of a set of phonetic properties, as coronal, nasal, or strident, serving as a basic unit of phonological analysis by which the sounds that are significant in a language can be characterized and distinguished from one another.

a component or phonetic feature characterizing a phoneme.

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RELATED WORDS

feature, keynote, mannerism, quirk, trait, particularity, singularity, lineament

Nearby words

distillery, distillment, distinct, distinction, distinctive, distinctive feature, distinctively, distinctiveness ratio, distinctly, distingue, distinguish

Origin of distinctive feature

First recorded in 1925–30

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019